WOODCRAFT SALE

[WARRENRN1]

went to woodcraft over valentine's day weekend.....ok, it was a side trip after we went to some needlepoint shop for my wife..... and was looking at dust collectors. looked at the jet and the delta. am leaning towards the delta... the smaller 2 bag unit going for $159. i was told by one of the sales guys that delta is having a 10% off sale on all their power tools (dust collectors included) this thursday... feb 19. i have seen an ad for the harbor freight collector on sale for $149. both have

30 micron upper bags. asking for opinions about how each work...compared to one another. i am not going to set a collections system thruout the shop, but rather attach it to the machine i am working with at the time. any help in determining would be appreciative. BTW.. the sale is only for feb

1. and if woodcraft is out of stock or on vback order, they will honor the price change. so says the sales guy at woodcraft.

[charlie b]

snip

Regardless of which one you go with - DITCH THE STOCK BAGS and get the 1 micron bags or the cannister pleated filter - the bags are a joke. With the stock bags the "dust collectors" should be called "dust relocators" - taking dust from where it's being generated to the environs of the "dust relocator".

I've got the delta and with 1 micron bags it still lets dust through in very noticeable amounts.- and that's with a garbage can separator in front of it. You might want to look into an air filter as well. You can make your own using a furnace blower and the filters of your choice. Big commercial truck filters have lots of surface area packed in a small volume and they catch the really small stuff.

Here's the url to the one I made

b

[Bob Davis]

There was a recent thread about the Harbor Freight dust collector. Everyone that had one was satisfied with it. It apears to be a lot more collector than the Delta. It apparently can carry two 4" hoses connected. I have a jet of similar size. I think two hoses are a big step up for getting both the cabinet and above table parts of a table saw.

By the way, I have never owned a cloth filter unit. I read anecdotes about the mess cleaning these. It also seems to be a common upgrade to replace the 30 micron bag with a felt bag that has much greater filtering efficiency. I have a jet collector with the cartridge filter. This had much greater filter area and is very efficient. You can buy the cartridge as an upgrade for many collectors.

Be prepared for initial disappointment with any dust collector. You may have to spend time frittering with hoods, chutes, and gizmos to make the collection on each of your machines work well. Just because it has a 4" dust port doesn't mean that you can hook up and do a good job. My Jet Supersaw has an enclosed cabinet and 4" port. It only began working moderately well after I spent time to seal up the gaping holes around the tilt adjustment and splitter attachment. I've spent three months prototyping all kinds of approaches to capture the dust above the table. Its been highly frustrating. I originally viewed my $500 jet collector as a giant boat anchor. I think I'm on the last leg of prototypes and the results are very, very encouraging, but its been a long road.

Bob

[mttt]

Man o' man - I like those priorities! :)

[Michael Baglio]

that thing and bang out the filters? Does the bulkhead assembly configuration for attaching all the filters make that a tedious process? Looking forward, (as always), to swiping another of your great ideas. Youdaman.

Michael

[Wilson Lamb]

[Dennis Slabaugh, Hobbyist Wood]

This is a great example of an informative post.. Thanks Bob Davis!

Dennis Slabaugh, Hobbyist Woodworker

frustrating.

[Jerry Gilreath]

Ok, now that we're on this subject, I've got a question or ten. I've got a REALLY small shop built onto the garage, 10' X 26' X 7.5' to be exact. Right now I've got the 2" plastic pipe ran around the walls with flex hose and blast gates to the equipment. I have a shopvac attached to it that is sitting in the garage. I can't hear it, see it, or smell it. I have my bigger stuff, jointer, and planer, on the side of the garage LOML don't park her Explorer in, with a Ridgid DC hooked to them.That part works fine, what I'm wondering is, would I be better off putting a DC in the place of the shopvac or if I did that, would I need to run 4" pipe in the shop also? All the stuff I have in the shop has 2" fittings on them, with the exception of the router and sanders. They're duct taped and retro fitted!!! Thanks!!!!

[Kevin B]

I've had the AP-400 for about 5 days now. 15 feet of hose with a 4 inch universal adapter for my TS and planer and a 4 inch to 2.5 inch adapter for the BS and RT. Works really well and has plenty of power for one tool at a time. The 15 foot hose lets me leave the unit in one place and just move the hose from tool to tool. I'll add the 1 micron bags in a couple of weeks.

My eyes and nose, despite using a mask, were really suffering with no DC. But now, WOW, what a big difference with the DC.

Two thumbs up for the AP-400!

Kevin B.

[charlie b]

Michael Baglio

Unlike the "dust collector" which sucks up chips, curlies, small screws, little animals etc.. an air filter doesn't goes after just the little floating stuff. The "solids" volume is very small so it takes a while to load these filters up. They're wing-nutted to the bulkhead so they come out fairly easily. Were I to make another I thing I'd have the bulkhead slide in from the top so it and all the filters could be slid out and blown out - outside of coursee.

charlie b

[Bob Davis]

Jerry,

I really cannot offer intelligent comment on your situation, but I can possibly pass on some of my own experience regarding piping. I operate in a

3 car garage type space. I went from nothing to a 2 HP collector with a couple of flex hoses. I'm getting a lot less dust and I'm not where I think I can be. I just two days ago put together a jury rig for collection of dust off the table saw top and it worked really, really well. I think I'm going to stick with it. So now I can focus my time on getting rid of my flex hoses across the floor.

I've read and re-read and researched options for the piping for a dust collection network. Part of my frustration was reading about good stuff but not being able to find it locally or on the internet. There was this rumor that S&D (Sewer and Drain) PVC piping was very cost effective, but I could not find any fittings for it. I was almost resigned to buying the pipe, some flex hose, and "official dust collection" fittings from my dealer. Then I discovered the fittings at my Local Lowe's. I swear they just started carrying this stuff. I've walked those aisles so many times, I can tell you the cracks in the concrete.

Anyway, here's the prices I paid for pipe and fittings

10 foot x 4" diameter pipe $4.97 4" Long radius 90 degree ell $1.60 4" "Y" fitting $2.67 4" 45 degree ell $1.16 4" pipe hanger $0.90 (I'm using one every 4 feet of pipe).

The most expensive part is putting a short piece of 4" flex hose at each connection. To adapt the S&D pipe to the flex hose, I'm using a standard 4" PVC dust collection splicer. Three wraps of duct tape on the end and it fits snugly inside the S&D pipe. The splicer costs $4.95 each. The hose is about $2.00/foot.

Bob

[Glen Duff]

Bob,

I agree with you there are some very good way to cut costs and I have been using 4" heating duct and fittings and they have all worked very well. On one of my runs I have a 12' length of strengthened pipe (I forget the name) with a band twisted around it and it was about 4 x the cost of regular piping. Although I have had no problem with the regular pipe I would probably use the former if I were to do it again. Acturally the increased cost isn't prohibitive.

Also, one of the best pieces of advice I received was to ignore the jointer and just put a bucket or box under it to collect the chips. I'm sure many will disagree but almost all of the "sawdust" from a jointer is not the fine stuff that is bad for the lungs. I am well aware that breathing fine sawdust is not healthy, I think there is a compromise where we accept that there will be sawdust around any shop, at least if its being used for woodworking.

Cheers,

Glen Duff ============

Bob Davis wrote:

[Bob Davis]

I think we all strive to going from "candi-coated with dust" to "lightly dusted".

Bob

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (WARRENRN1) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

BTW.. the sale is

Today's snail mail brought a Woodcraft postcard indicating "10% off EVERYTHING, Plane & Simple", for Thursday, 26 February.

I live in the SF East Bay Area, and shop at the store in Dublin, CA. There is a store code of BB, and a coupon code of 21892. The card indicates "Stores * Catalog * Internet", and offers 1-800-225-1153

A LT Unisaw w/52" Bies, and a Delta 16" DP followed me home after similar offers last year. The store folks are/were pretty good about working things out, and ordering what isn't in stock....

Patriarch who is determined to let the credit card rest a bit....

[Bob Davis]

I appreciate your comments. Your air cleaner is ingeniuous and what a fine job of documenting it.

The more I read about bags (never owned one), the more impressed I am with the Jet collector with big 'ol cartridge filter. Maybe I don't generate as much sawdust as most people. But the dust around the collector is almost imperceptable. I just reach over and give the "cartridge beater" handles a couple of spins at the end of the day. Big clumps of fine cake come cascading down into the plastic collection sack.

Bob